| Abstract: | This paper reviews the changes in hop production over the past 25 years. The fluctuating pattern of acreage and yield in the principal producing countries is recorded and related to political and marketing changes. Changing brewery requirements, partly related to the development of processed hops, have increased the demand for high α-acid cultivars, but hop aroma continues to be an important criterion. New cultivars are not only meeting brewers' needs but also those of growers to whom disease resistance is particularly important. Changes in production methods have included increased mechanisation particularly related to harvesting, improved drying equipment, non-cultivation techniques, mist propagation and, on an experimental basis, growing hops on low wirework. |
